Emma Spring

Evan Bates has competed in five Olympic Games, won nearly every title ice dancing has to offer and built a life in Montreal with his skating partner and wife Madison Chock. But at his core, he’s still a kid from Ann Arbor and a University of Michigan graduate — the 52nd in his family to be one. In this episode of Off-Beat, Barrett and Emma sit down with Bates days after his gold and silver medal finish at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic Games to talk about what it really means to come back home.

The University of Michigan no longer operates any Biosafety Level 3 laboratories, following the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s to containment guidance for SARS-CoV-2 research in March 2025. BSL-3 labs are designed to handle highly contagious and potentially fatal viruses and pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, HIV and Tuberculosis.